As a photographer, I’m often asked by friends or even people I meet which camera is best suited for day-to-day carry around purposes? Usually, they’re thinking about mid-to-higher-end compact cameras like the PowerShot G12 or COOLPIX P7700 and they describe them as “not as heavy and obtrusive as a DSLR but still capable of taking a good picture…” Well, cameras don’t take pictures, photographers do, and for me, these all represent something extra I’d have to commit to carrying around all day and they don’t provide enough advantage over my iPhone, for example, to make it worth the trouble. If I’m going to carry “something extra” it’s going to be my DSLRs. Either I’m setting out to do photography deliberately, in which case I bring everything, or I’m caught off guard and always have my phone on me. I don’t find many use cases in between.

I use the DSLR when I’m out looking for pictures and the iPhone when the picture finds me.

Here’s a little gallery of some of my iPhone pictures. All taken with the built-in camera app only, none are cropped and only a couple have been toned a little in Photoshop. Please use the share buttons below and comment if this was interesting to you!

I‘ve covered a couple of these already and I don’t see them published often so I thought I’d share this image with you here. A very solemn ceremony I aimed to cover respectfully. The media have been allowed to cover these operations since April this year and you can read more about that here, if you wish.

DOVER, DE - JULY 21: U.S. Marines carry the remains of Brandon T. Lara on July 21, 2009 in Dover, Delaware. Lara, 20, died July 19, 2009 while supporting combat operations in Iraq's Anbar province. The remains of one U.S. Marine in Iraq and four U.S. Army soldiers killed in Afghanistan where flown to Dover for the dignified transfer. (Photo by Robert Giroux / Getty Images)

Marines carry the remains of Brandon T. Lara on July 21, 2009 in Dover, Delaware

Two Red Line Metrorail trains that collided with one another between the Fort Totten and Takoma Park stations during the evening rush hour June 22, 2009 in Washington, DC. (Photo Copyright Robert Giroux / GETTY IMAGES)

They say covering Washington, DC, becomes repetitive, even as some of the faces slowly change over time, the pictures and situations created for the news media tend to repeat over and over. So deja-vu is a common experience but this time it was a little different. Last night I was assigned to cover the Metro train collision for Getty Images and remembered that way back in 1996 I had covered a train collision between a MARC commuter train and an AMTRAK train for Knight-Ridder (now McClatchy Info Services) which killed 11 people.

The two crashes are situated about 3 miles apart – the 1996 occurrence being a bit farther north along the same line. The pictures obviously bear some similarity and I thought it might interesting to compare.

Here are a couple more pictures from last nights tragedy.

Two Red Line Metrorail trains that collided with one another between the Fort Totten and Takoma Park stations during the evening rush hour June 22, 2009 in Washington, DC. (Photo Copyright Robert Giroux / GETTY IMAGES)

Two Red Line Metrorail trains that collided with one another between the Fort Totten and Takoma Park stations during the evening rush hour June 22, 2009 in Washington, DC. (Photo Copyright Robert Giroux / GETTY IMAGES)

This is something that came to me a few days after getting my Canon 5D MkII’s. I was lying in bed, about to fall asleep and the idea came to me. So, I got up and gave it a try and it worked very well – Set the color balance K-Value while in live view mode so you can see the result live and dial-it-in just right!

TIP: Set Color Balance K-Valure in Live View!

It seemed kind of obvious but as it turns out everyone I’ve mentioned it to hadn’t tried or heard of it and thought it was a good idea. So I’m posting it here to help my fellow photographers!

Anyone who knows me can tell you I love to laugh and that’s what made this assignment an especially fun one for me. The cast of the new movie “A Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian” are very funny people and they were in exceptional form for this press conference – as can be seen in these pictures.

Actors (L-R) Owen Wilson, Amy Adams, Ben Stiller, Robin Williams, Ricky Gervais and Hank Azaria answer reporters questions in the Smithsonian Castle at a news conference to discuss their new movie, "A Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" in Washington May 14, 2009. REUTERS/Robert GirouxActors (L-R) Robin Williams, Ricky Gervais and Hank Azaria answer reporters questions in the Smithsonian Castle at a news conference to discuss their new movie, "A Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" in Washington May 14, 2009. REUTERS/Robert GirouxActors (L-R) Ben Stiller, Robin Williams and Ricky Gervais answer reporters questions in the Smithsonian Castle at a news conference to discuss their new movie, "A Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" in Washington May 14, 2009. REUTERS/Robert Giroux

The main purpose of this blog will be to talk about and post pictures from recent assignments as well as promote anything else going on in my career. I may also discuss happenings in the editorial photo industry on occasion if something inspires me to do so.

Hopefully I’ll post often but circumstances will dictate. Thanks for taking a look.

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about.me

Photographer, Technologist.

Robert Giroux began his professional photography career in suburban Montreal in the mid-80's and over the years has worked as a photographer for Agence France-Press, Newsweek and Getty Images most notably. Robert is currently employed by National Geographic in their Global Media Technology division. He is also the creator of the industry leading Easy Release model and property release mobile app for iOS and Android.